Before sentencing former army major David Clarke to time served in prison for drug trafficking, US Judge Raymond Dearie yesterday said that he could not begin to understand how someone with the former officer’s history and record of success got into something “like this.”
The judge on more than one occasion remarked that the case was one of the more interesting ones he has had before him. “This is a remarkable case, when you finish writing your memoir I would like to read it,” Judge Dearie told Clarke before sentencing him. He said he appreciated the fact that Clarke and his wife both wrote him letters apologising for his behaviour and said he hopes the drug convict is really contrite about his actions, especially for the sake of his children who have suffered and would continue to suffer as a result of his criminal act.
The judge commented that Clarke’s professional career is also in jeopardy.
Yesterday’s hearing, which basically saw Clarke being sentenced to just over three years he spent in custody after he gave himself up to the US authorities early in 2006, brought the curtain down on one of the more secretive cases involving Guyanese in the US in recent times. No further information was given about the case in which he was charged along with his brother, Hubert Clarke called ‘Dun Dun,’ and his brother’s girlfriend Shelly McQune, who are still at large.
According to the first charge, between October 2003 and April 5, 2005, the three together with others, did knowingly and intentionally, conspire to import more than five kilogrammes of cocaine into the US. On the second charge, between the same dates, they also conspired to distribute the cocaine in the US.
‘Dozens of others’
Dressed in prison garb, a clean-shaven Clarke, stood with hands behind his back and his lawyer, Gary Schoer, told the court that the former army major’s background prior to his criminal activity was “admirable.” And he said while that does not minimise his criminal activity he pointed out that the former officer and his family made the decision “for various reasons” and it was a decision that gravely affected his wife and two children. He said his client came to the US upon indictment by the New York court and was immediately incarcerated. He cooperated with the government “fully placing” him and his family in danger.
And US Prosecutor Shannon Jones told the court that Clarke surrendered himself shortly after he was indicted and if he had not done so he could have remained in Guyana out of the reach of the US authorities.
“As his brother continues to be?” questioned the judge to which Jones said “As his brother and a dozen others…”
‘Jaws of death’
Given a chance to address the court, Clarke repeatedly apologised to his family and the American people for his actions. As in the case of fellow drug trafficker Roger Khan, he made no mention of Guyana even though he committed his crime while he was not only in the country but also while he was an officer in the Disciplined Services. Clarke acknowledged the gravity of his crime and said from yesterday he would “value the simple things in life and not squander opportunities.”
He then thanked the US Government for offering protection to him and his family and for saving them from “the jaws of death and giving us a second chance.”
With his voice breaking, the former major again apologised to his wife for “the pain my anti-social behaviour has caused.”
The sentencing at about 1 pm yesterday was a dramatic end to a case which had been hushed up here, but which was deeply linked to the drug trafficking and phantom operations that Khan had been involved in.
Khan and his former lawyer Robert Simels, who was sentenced to 14 years yesterday, had been charged with attempting to tamper with witnesses in Khan’s drug case. It was believed that they had hatched a plot to silence Clarke as he was believed to be a potent witness. A US informant, Selwyn Vaughn, however testified against Simels leading to his conviction in that case while Khan had earlier thrown in the towel and settled for a 15-year jail term.
Yesterday’s outcome leaves a host of questions about Khan’s and Clarke’s operations and linkages with the security forces and the Guyana government. At the time that Clarke was ensnared in the activities that led to the US charges he was also the army man in charge of a key security operation in Buxton.
And unlike so many others, such as Khan, against whom Clarke was expected to be the star witness had the matter gone to trial, the former army officer would not be deported to Guyana as he and his wife and two children have been granted leave to remain in the country with the only condition being that he must regularly report to a Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent.
Stabroek News has been reliably informed that at the time Clarke learnt of his indictment in April 2006 he was attending the University of Guyana and upon being shown the indictment he immediately contacted the US Embassy in Guyana.
Sources have also indicated that not only Clarke saw the indictment but the upper echelons of the army had also received a copy of the indictment but kept it under wraps and Clarke was allowed to voluntarily leave the country and travel to the US where he surrendered.
It is believed that even though Khan had already been indicted by then, most of the information subsequently provided by the US government was availed by the former army officer. It was this that caused Simels in one of the recorded conversations with Vaughn to remark that the case against Khan depended heavily on Clarke. That was the reason he went to the lengths of finding out the jail Clarke was in and attempting to speak to him. Clarke rebuffed Simels’ attempts to speak to him. Simels then attempted through Vaughn to intimidate Clarke’s relatives and even bribe some of them.
‘Operation Tourniquet’
Clarke was at one time head of Operation Tourniquet in Buxton, an operation that had been aimed at quelling the crime wave but was not successful. Instead, it had been alleged that Clarke was actively working with the criminals and also with Khan to traffic in cocaine.
Clarke’s case is of great interest on the local shores because not only was he a major in the army, but he has been publicly accused by President Bharrat Jagdeo of being in cahoots with the Buxton criminals while he was stationed there as head of Tourniquet. This accusation also came from convicted drug trafficker Khan.
Following a report in this newspaper about Clarke being in a US jail on drug trafficking charges, Jagdeo revealed that he had received “confidential information” from Buxtonians that the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) officer was working with criminals. At the time Jagdeo, who said he was “vindicated” in blocking Clarke’s promotion for a year and ordering that he return home from an overseas training stint he had been halfway through, said he could not order a court-martial as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces since he wanted to protect the identities of the informers. He had also said, just a few months ago, that he was still not willing to reveal the persons’ identities.
“I have made it clear about my position on Clarke because… I knew about Clarke …the information on Clarke came from people whom I know in Buxton. And I would never ever, ever betray their confidence because they told me this in confidence. And I had it. It was clear. I shared it but you had a cabal that was pushing it but of course he didn’t get to move forward. …this happens routinely, people share information,” Jagdeo said at a recent press conference.
In 2003, the President had created a stir when he had refused Clarke’s promotion; the only one he denied from a long list of recommended officers. The then captain was recommended by a promotions panel chaired by the then army Chief of Staff, Brigadier Michael Atherly, based on the recommendation of his battalion commander.
The commander’s recommendation was said to be based on Clarke’s attitude and performance in his substantive rank, his suitability for promotion to higher rank and authority as well as his suitability for retention in the army.
That assessment was reached based on the recommendation of a promotion panel at the battalion level, which reviewed the ex-officer’s annual confidential reports and assessed his suitability.
Clarke was subsequently promoted.
He was charged shortly after Khan was described as a drug trafficker in the 2006 US drug report. When the report was published, Khan had made “assorted accusations” against Clarke and others at a meeting in March 2006 with US officials at the Ocean View Hotel. He had sought to provide “evidence” that Clarke had worked in concert with Shawn Brown, one of the five February 23, 2002 prison escapees. He had alleged that during Clarke’s tenure as head of ‘Operation Tourniquet’, he was in league with Brown, who was responsible for kidnapping former US diplomat Stephen Lesniak in April 2003.
Following his arrest in Trinidad in June 2006 and his subsequent indictment on drug charges, Khan had sought to deny that he and Clarke could have been co-conspirators in exporting drugs, arguing that he had exposed the former officer’s criminal links.
When President Jagdeo had refused to promote Clarke, senior army sources at that time had told Stabroek News that nothing in the man’s record indicated that he had behaved in an inappropriate manner either during his assignment in Buxton or in the other locations at which he was stationed. However, this was not the picture the President had subsequently painted.
